The universal serial bus (USB) peripheral interface standard has experienced wide integration into most current computing environments. Indeed, it is quickly replacing older connection methods, such as the non-standardized serial and parallel ports, as the primary interface standard. Examples of devices that can interface with a computer using the USB standard include mouse devices, keyboards, joysticks, audio and video devices, memory devices, and the like. Thus, the USB standard gives manufacturers the ability to construct an array of devices with a variety of capabilities that all utilize the USB interface standard.
A drawback that comes with implementing a variety of devices using a single interface standard is the need for multiple device drivers, one for each device. One way of addressing the issue of multiple device drivers is through the creation and implementation of class drivers. A class driver is a higher-level driver that typically provides hardware-independent support for a class of physical devices. The developer of an operating system can package multiple class drivers with its operating system and thus obviate the need to load a new device driver for every device that a user wants to interface with his or her computer. For example, an operating system that is installed on a computer may include a USB video class device driver that is created based on the USB Device Class Definition for Video Devices specification (hereinafter “video specification”)(version 1.0, et seq., available from the USB Implementers Forum). If a USB video device that complies with the video specification is plugged into the computer, the USB video class driver should enable the USB video device to interact with the computer and operate as intended by the device's manufacturer. However, due to the complexities of operating system design and the USB video specification, there are instances where the configuration of an operating system and/or a particular USB video device may be such that the USB video device does not function properly with the operating system.